"Shotengai no Pianist" drama: Episode four of thirteen recap

 

 Air Dates: October 3rd to December 26, 2022  Monday nights at 10:30 pm on BS Shochiku

Thirteen 25 minute episodes, subs once again done by GEO9875 at DA

Also known as Pianist in the Shopping District

Main Cast: Usually have to update this section often but don't think that's going to happen in this series. Most of the action will be taking place at the Kajiwara Music Store which is in the shopping district in an unnamed small city.

Kiita Komagine as Ren Sawamoto.... Young man about 22 or so in age who works as an electrician. He still lives with his mother and about ten years ago his father disappeared, how and why will probably be revealed later on in the series. Ren is so talented at the piano but ten years ago stopped playing, when his father left? It seems so as the family piano was sold at that time and it appears Ren has found it at the Kajiwara music store, will finding it spark his interest to start playing again?

 Mio Yuki as Modori Kajiwara.... About twenty in age and works at her father's music store, she seems to run the place. Midori isn't all that talented as far as music goes but has a dream to be a painter and wants to attend an art school. No one seems to recognize her talent except for Ren, the pair never met until the first episode.

 Hiroto Yoshimitsu as Yosuke Kajiwara.... Midori's father and seems to be nice man, also a big fan of music and thinks that his daughter doesn't have much talent at painting!

An Hasegawa as Moe Kato.... Daughter of the next woman and is ten years old. Moe loves the piano but has to sneak into the Kajiwara store to play their street piano as her mother hates the the instrument and would rather see her daughter studying 100% of the time. Moe is a beginner but does show a lot of talent and her favorite piece is "Fur Elise" by Beethoven. 

Maki Kubota as Masae Kato.... Moe's mother who as explained hates the piano and owns a clothing shop near the music store, she says the piano is way too loud which I think is a lie.

 Naho Toda as Sakiko Sawamoto.... Ren's mother and to date don't know much about her.

Short promo video for episode four

Previous recaps:

Episode one .... Episode two

 Right above is a person who I hadn't thought about for a while and perhaps most Nogi fans reading this hadn't either! That's Seira Nagashima and she was one of my top members for a while but left the group in March 2016. She had only two minutes of screen time in the previous episode but at least five times that amount in this show! To me she may be the prettiest of all Nogi members and somehow Seira looks ten times as attractive these days, hope to see more of her though not holding my breath....

 Seira plays the role of Yuki who is a street pianist, she has a video channel that's becoming so popular. Yuki has big fans in Midori and Moe, they're in the second to last screenshot above. Midori had taped a video of Ren playing a Schumann piece in the last episode, Yuki enjoyed it so much she stopped by the Kajiwara Music Store to meet Ren. It was a Sunday and he wasn't there but did make an appearance. Just in time to hear Yuki finish a piece also by Schumann and Ren was so overly impressed. The two had never met each other but do have a common connection, besides the piano, which we'll be hearing about later on. Each episode will feature a different composer from the past, in this show it was the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt who lived from 1811 to 1886.

 We do hear some of his songs but the main one will be "La Campanella" which means little bell. Above Ren was giving the ten year old girl Moe some advice on playing the piece, as you can see he mentioned that Liszt wrote some difficult pieces. Back to the main story and it was too late for Ren to do a duet with Yuki, they set a date for the following Sunday to play. And in the next scene it was that date(!) and these mini concerts at the music store are starting to draw a crowd. In the first two episodes Moe's mother Masae hated that piano and even tried to get it removed from the shop. But she's changed her way of thinking and all of a sudden is her daughter's biggest supporter! For their duet Ren and Yuki played another Liszt composition called "Un Sospiro" which they performed flawlessly. Someone from the small crowd then requested "La Campanella" which Ren wanted to play but not Yuki who looked so uncomfortable when that song was mentioned. The pair did do a different tune but there is a reason why Yuki was so adverse to playing that song.

 Midori did tape that piano duet and it was her top one to date getting 10,000 views, not many for a pop video but it is a lot for a street piano performance. Plus Ren and Yuki hit it off well, the pair have agreed to keep playing together and will again the following weekend. But during the week Midori was paid a visit at the music store by the man in the third screenshot above. He didn't tell Midori his name but seems as though he knows Ren and will be popping in to see him play. Which he did that following Sunday, with their backs to the crowd Ren and Yuki didn't notice this man among them. But Yuki did immediately after that song, her always glowing smile turned into a pout(frown?). This man's name is Ryohei Nagai and is also a pianist, not just an everyday one but a pianist who is known worldwide and is just so unbelievably talented.

 Besides knowing Ren Ryohei also has a background with Yuki and we'll learn what that is soon. Ryohei asked Ren if he would like to do a duet of "La Campanella" for the crowd, Ren turned that offer down and so didn't Yuki. So Ryohei in a bit of an egotistical way sat at the piano and played the piece flawlessly, he's known as a 'Nobleman of the Piano World' and it's easy to see why, Ren and Yuki are both superb but they're not in Ryohei's league. Yuki and Ren stood in the crowd watching the performance, Yuki just couldn't take it any more and fled the store in tears. Ren dashed to her and the pair had a long talk in a nearby park where Ren learned of her background. Yuki had gone to a musical school and had a bight future until she entered a competition. Also entered was Ryohei and both picked "La Campanella" to perform, according to Yuki his playing was unbeatable. Yuki was up next and she knew that there was no shot at winning, she was so distraught she just sat at the piano and was unable to play. Because of that she's had a block at playing "La Campanella" for all these years.

 We also learned an interesting fact from Yuki about Franz Liszt. He had large hands so his compositions are harder to play if you have small hands or fingers, that could be another reason why Yuki doesn't want to play the piece. Perhaps then it's easier for a male to play who has longer fingers, Ren seems to play "La Campanella" well though he's no Ace. After he comforted Yuki he asked her to play the piece with him the following weekend, we didn't hear her answer but think it was yes. While those two were having that conversation back at the music shop Ryohei was telling Midori about much of Ren's past. The pair had met when they were five years old, the piano was the reason and for the next seven years the pair were semi rivals. Ren had quit playing at the age of twelve when his father left the household and his mother sold the piano, it's apparently the one at the Kajiwara shop! So Ryohei had no clue what happened to Ren all these ten or so years, he viewed the video of Ren and Yuki playing together which is how he found the pair.

 According to Ryohei Ren was close to being his equal, at every competition the pair would finish first and second. So Ryohei was very disappointed at both of his ex-mates, not at how they played but how they're wasting their talents playing a street piano and making videos. So as mentioned the following Sunday Ren and Yuki were finally going to play "La Campanella" together and Ren was looking forward to it. But in the last thirty seconds Midori ran to Ren with some horrible news and will there be a performance? Seems Yuki has deleted all of her videos and has disappeared, seems meeting Ryohei has upset her more than we thought and the episode ended on that note. But do know that Yuki will be in the next show, along with Ryohei and hate waiting to see how this turns out! Will be back in two weeks with the next pair of recaps and plenty of screenshots to help you follow this story better.